The present invention relates to composite products which may have various forms but which have the commonality of combining an additive to a creamy base of a selected type whereby an edible or ingestible product of a stable character is produced.
Important applications of the invention will be to various food products but the invention also extends to other applications wherein the additive is an active medical or pharmaceutical ingredient and the creamy base acts as an effective carrier.
The inventor""s own prior patent specification PCT/AU95/00259 (now Australian patent No. 691,282 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,939,126) discloses a range of embodiments in which a creamy base is aerated and a hot aqueous solution of gelatin is rapidly and intimately mixed through the creamy base whereby the gelatin is effectively dispersed. The amount of gelatin, its concentration in the solution and the temperature of the solution needs to be selected relative to the aerated creamy base such that effective and intimate rapid distribution of the gelatin occurs whereby the base has a range of advantageous characteristics. The inventors"" prior patent discloses products which can have excellent freeze/thaw stability and/or products which have an extraordinary capacity to be intimately mixed with oily products, acidic products, fruit components containing enzymes and products having an alcoholic base. These additives generally are difficult to mix intimately with a cream based food product to produce a combination for use e.g. as a sauce, mayonnaise, dessert or similar product.
The use of gelatin in the food industry is used in a wide range of applications but the particular applications the inventor""s prior patent offers new and useful applications. This specification is directed to additional significant new application and production methods extending to further uses of the creamy base.
The use of gelatin is also known in the pharmaceutical industry as a coating of pharmaceutical products. One recent patent in this field is U.S. Pat. No. 5,614,219 (Wunderlich et al) which discloses, for oral administration, peptidic medicaments such as insulin distributed in a gelatin or gelatin derivative matrix.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,928,664 is a further disclosure for medicament carriers using a gelatin matrix and a glycerol matrix and other gummy delivery systems.
Thus, gelatin is well established as an acceptable food component and component for use in the pharmaceutical industry.
The present invention is directed to a range of new applications all based on new and useful applications derived from a creamy base product produced from any one of the forms of the inventor""s prior patent specification and whereby novel combinations and/or novel processing conditions are proposed for additional steps so that new and useful products are derived. A major application of products of the inventor""s prior patent are products which have been allowed to at least set and cool and may then either be cold-stored for good shelf life or frozen to provide extended shelf life. It is to be understood that the present invention includes applications where the creamy base product is not necessarily allowed to cool and set before additional components, as required by aspects of the present invention, are introduced. The creamy base product together with the hot aqueous gelatin solution mixed into the base product can be further processed at elevated temperature with additional components and otherwise treated in accordance with aspects of the further present invention. Alternatively, the cold, set creamy base according to the prior patent specification may be a starting ingredient for new methods and products.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of producing a food product including taking a creamy base component (as defined hereinafter) mixing in a further food product before, during or after mixing in the gelatin solution;
establishing and maintaining elevated temperature conditions:
(i) to cause intimate distribution of the further food product substantially uniformly with the cream base component and
(ii) to provide increased shelf life to the product when cooled and packaged;
allowing the composite product to cool and then providing suitable storage for supply of the food product.
For the purpose of this specification, the creamy base component as defined as that derived from:
a cold base ingredient selected from the group consisting of cream, artificial cream, thickened cream, cream cheese, and mixtures thereof and mixtures with compatible incidental ingredients, the ingredient being aerated to produce an overrun and intimately mixing into the ingredient a hot aqueous solution of gelatin providing:
(A) sufficient thermal load to maintain the gelatin solution and the cold base ingredient with low enough viscosity to permit rapid and substantially uniform distribution during the mixing step;
(B) sufficient gelatin to provide the stability required in the product; and
(C) sufficient gelatin to substantially obviate breakdown or collapse of the aerated base ingredient during or after the mixing step, whereby the product has freeze/thaw stability.
Preferably, but not necessarily the method of producing the creamy base is characterised by one or more of the following conditions:
(a) the gelatin solution is at greater than 48xc2x0 C. and preferably at about 80xc2x0 C.;
(b) the gelatin solution causes 1%-3% by weight of gelatin in the creamy base;
(c) the aeration is to an overrun in the range of 10%-40%;
(d) the ingredient is at about 4xc2x0 C. and after mixing the gelatin solution raises the product temperature to about 10xc2x0 C.;
(e) mixing is conducted rapidly using a wire whisk.
An example of a creamy base is one having the following ingredients:
Cream Cheese;
Sugar;
Sweetened Condensed Milk;
Thickened Cream (0.4% gelatin and 35% milk fat);
Type B Gelatin (115-135 Bloom);
Water.
The ingredients provided added gelatin of 1.16% so that the resultant product would have a total of approximately 1.5% gelatin. The cream was thickened by conventional thickening. The manufacturing methodology used a Hobart mixer with a wire whisk agitator. The method was as follows:
1. Cream cheese and sugar was blended to a smooth paste at mixer speed 2 for approximately 3 minutes and then for a 30 second mixing at speed 3.
2. Sweetened condensed milk was added with agitation at speed 3 for approximately 90 seconds.
3. The thickened cream was added and beating occurred in the mixer on speed 3 for approximately 2 minutes and this achieved a 25% increase in volume.
4. The gelatin was formed in solution in water at near boiling point and allowed to cool to approximately 80xc2x0 C. The cream pre-mix at about 10xc2x0 C. then received the gelatin solution poured slowly into the mixer on speed 2 with the solution directed into the spinning whisk. It was distributed in approximately 10 to 15 seconds and then the mixer speed increased to speed 3 for a few seconds. The product was then available for use, including freezing and when desired thawing and mixing with other materials.
One important application is where by mechanical mixing, the creamy base component is substantially deaerated before or during mixing in the further food component.
Important embodiments of the invention are those in which an elevated temperature around the boiling point of the product is sustained for a period of the order of one minute and typically in the range 30 seconds to 5 minutes and preferably in the range 30 seconds to 2 minutes. In some embodiments, additional water is added to ensure that suitable product characteristics are maintained.
It is preferred that sufficient water be added to the mixture to prevent excessive reduction of the mixture, but not to leave free water in the final product.
One example of the food product is where the product is maintained at 90xc2x0 C. for about 1 minute and then hot filled into a suitable container which is closed before cooling and shipment of the product.
Another example is where the product is canned and then heated to a temperature of around 120xc2x0 C. and held for around 1 minute to achieve the processing whereby long life can be established.
Another application is for the final product to be frozen and stored in a frozen condition.
A further application is where the product is freeze-dried and packaged suitably for longer shelf life.
In one form, the invention has a minor proportion of the creamy base relative to the major component which is a formulated product which may have higher acidity e.g. in the range of pH 3.0 to 4.2 and may be selected from a wide range of products.
In another range of products embodying the second aspect of the invention, the product is primarily the creamy base with the minor component comprising flavoring ingredients and surprisingly, it has been found that mixing in the products into the base in a method in which the base is substantially de-aerated compared with its original form produces a stable product which can readily be formed into suitable shapes and frozen for long-term storage.
When applied to the medical field, the present invention can be applied by mixing in an active ingredient such as insulin which becomes encapsulated in the base material to facilitate effective ingestion in tablet form and absorption to the bloodstream and this is believed to be a new and useful alternative to known proposals and can permit many medicaments to be administered orally rather than by the much less preferred injection method.
More broadly, this medical application aspect can be defined as a method of producing an oral pharmaceutical comprising taking a creamy base product resulting from a process which includes taking an ingredient selected from the group consisting of cream, artificial cream, thickened cream, cream cheese, and mixtures thereof and mixtures with compatible incidental ingredients, the ingredient when cold being aerated to produce an overrun and intimately mixing into the ingredient a hot aqueous solution of gelatin providing:
(A) sufficient thermal load to maintain the gelatin solution and the cold creamy base product with low enough viscosity to permit rapid and substantially uniform distribution during the mixing step;
(B) sufficient gelatin to provide the stability required in the product; and
(C) sufficient gelatin to substantially obviate breakdown or collapse of the aerated base product during or after the mixing step;
mixing in as a minor proportion of the final product an active pharmaceutical agent before, during or after mixing in the gelatin solution; forming a stable powder from the product and forming pharmaceutical doses therefrom.
Although not intended to be bound by any particular theory, the inventor suggests that the various embodiments of the invention exploit a distinct characteristic arising from the particular use of the gelatin solution with the creamy base. It is thought that the method forms a continuous three-dimensional gelatin network which surrounds gas bubbles in the aerated product and that this can be achieved by the hot aqueous gelatin solution which is greater than 50xc2x0 C. and typically higher in temperature followed by suitable rapid mixing.
Many embodiments of the present invention provide surprisingly good shelf life even as a refrigerated product due to the combination of processing conditions. For example, tests have been conducted with examples based on fetta cheese and spinach, parmesan cheese and herbal additives and surprisingly it is found that by pursuing standard tests coliform of less then 10 per gram have been found along with a standard plate count cfu per gram (30xc2x0 C./72 hours) of less than 10.